White House Turns Tables on Former American POWs

Now this is truly the wrong thing for the Government to do. Instead of compensating our men and women who fought in the Gulf War and were tortured, they instead use an excuse and say the money will go towards rebuilding Iraq. Now I'm all for rebuilding Iraq but to not compensate for our soldiers is just wrong.

White House Turns Tables on Former American POWs
By David G. Savage
The Los Angeles Times

Tuesday 15 February 2005

Gulf War pilots tortured by Iraqis fight the Bush administration in trying to collect compensation.

WASHINGTON - The latest chapter in the legal history of torture is being written by American pilots who were beaten and abused by Iraqis during the 1991 Persian Gulf War. And it has taken a strange twist.

The Bush administration is fighting the former prisoners of war in court, trying to prevent them from collecting nearly $1 billion from Iraq that a federal judge awarded them as compensation for their torture at the hands of Saddam Hussein's regime.

The rationale: Today's Iraqis are good guys, and they need the money.

The case abounds with ironies. It pits the U.S. government squarely against its own war heroes and the Geneva Convention.

Many of the pilots were tortured in the same Iraqi prison, Abu Ghraib, where American soldiers abused Iraqis 15 months ago. Those Iraqi victims, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld has said, deserve compensation from the United States.

But the American victims of Iraqi torturers are not entitled to similar payments from Iraq, the U.S. government says.

www.latimes.com...
www.truthout.org...

[edit on 15-2-2005 by mrmulder]

An interesting topic, the US is trying to get other nations to release some of iraqs debt that was built up under saddam. I fail to see why the current iraqi government should be held financial responsible for hussein's actions. Perhaps the companies that traded with him after the embargo and individuals that were involved in the oil for food scandal should be the ones paying out.

Ok, now i have seen it all. This has just got to be insane....

You get compensation for being tortured, and your own goverment says that you cannot have it as the regime has changed....

This has got to be a joke. Sick, but a joke. If its not, the military has got to start to wonder who side the goverments really on??!!

Well, I certainly hope this is a joke but it doesn't look like it as far as I can tell. It seems the government is spending our money for their own personal gain instead of helping our troops who have served and suffered in battle.

If, say, americans of today are not responsible for the actions of the same american government of the past, then why should the iraqis be responsible for the criminal actions of a thug and dictator who ran roughshod over their country and is now removed? Does russia have to pay repariations to the US for having made it invest in large scale nuclear stockpiles? Is Schroeder responsible for hitler? What about france? THe nazis ran large parts of france and they helped the nazis fight the war. Is it 'disgusting' that chirac doesn't have to pay reparations to jews?

Hrm, this looks to me like a very dangerous legal precedent actually. If its decided in favor of the federal goverment's stance that regime change means all previous outstanding debts are gone, then I guess it will be OK for lawyers to stall in other cases till owners of companies, elected officials and such leave office and negate any outstanding obligations. I could see the fat-cat lawyers having a blast using this technique to get coporate theifs out of hot water.

Originally posted by alternateheaven
I guess it will be OK for lawyers to stall in other cases till owners of companies, elected officials and such leave office and negate any outstanding obligations.

No, because corporations are incorporated, they sort of 'exist' outside of their chairmen and stockholders. Infact, that the entire idea behind incorporation is to limit your personal liability.

Please explain why the people of iraq are responsible for sadaams crimes? Please explain why they have to pay for the loans sadaam took out to build palaces and pay for the services and burial of his son's whores and sex slaves?

Also, this is not a plan by the Bush admin. They are, for some reason, at least as far as I understand it, not looking for the complete absolvement of all national debt, I think it would affect the economies of the region disavantageously. But they are looking for the releif of a portion of the debt between nations.

I have a cousin that is in Iraq right now. He left for Iraq around the first part of January He hasn't got a paid since last October or November. He spent the last week that he was home trying to get the problem resolved. He would go to the office every day and always got the same response,"you're not in the system, we'll check into it today". He has served in Afganistan where he was injured and gladly signed up again when his time was up. I found out today that his wife and kids had to move in with her grandmother because of the situation.

THIS IS NO WAY TO TREAT THE PEOPLE THAT YOU SEND OFF TO WAR!!!!!!!!

Tonight we heard on the news that a soldier was killed from his base in the town where he is, we hope and pray that it was not him.

There is no way that I would get on a plane to go to war knowing that my family was not getting any money to live on!!!!!!!

making someone participate in an illegal war is just wrong. not compensating fairly for it is par for the course.

Originally posted by Nygdan
Please explain why the people of iraq are responsible for sadaams crimes?

The same reason that the people of Germany were responsible for the crimes of Hitler. The people of Iraq werent just hiding in holes to escape persecution by Sadam no more then all the people of Germany were hiding in attics to escape a train ride to the deathcamps. Iraqis served in his Army spied on their neighbors manned his torture chambers and profited from his reign. Granted not all did but many were guilty if not by direct connection then through inaction.

Originally posted by boogyman
The same reason that the people of Germany were responsible for the crimes of Hitler.

And how many pows did west germany pay reparations to?

Rumsfeld supports paying reparations to Iraqis who were tortured at Abu Ghraib.

The administration opposes Gulf War vet reparations.

Halliburton, Bechtel et al pockets money.

None of this is surprising. Just look at the case of James Baker defending the Saudis AGAINST 9-11 victims. How f-ed up is that?

Money.. blessed money..

Originally posted by EastCoastKid
How f-ed up is that?

It's all f-ed up if you ask me. I can only see things getting worse at this point than better.

I have a thread on how this adminstration supports the troops. If this case doesn't speak volumes on how they actually feel about our troops, nothing does. This administration USES our troops and then pisses all over them when they're done with them.

How BushCo. Supports Our War Vets
www.abovetopsecret.com...'